'If you focus on what you have left behind, you will never be able to see what lies ahead.'

Friday, September 1, 2017

An Ode to the Roll

“Yesterday, I had a roll at New Town. It was horrible! Ekdom baje. I knew only Kusum’s roll would be able to offset the trauma, so I came here.”

You
know you are in Kolkata when you hear passionate discussions about food
around you, especially street food. The shop in question has been
standing in an obscure corner off Park Street for almost 40 years, and
though inconspicuous by its presence, the serpentine queues outside, and
the intense aroma around it, ensure you cannot miss the humble stall
situated behind a large iron gate.
“No one is certain when the
roll came to Calcutta, but everyone who knows Kolkata knows about Kusum
Rolls. You see, every corner has a roll walah here, but nothing beats Kusum’s rolls,” says Rajat Mitra, a regular, who, as evident, swears by the shop.

A
bright yellow board tells you that the rolls come in 30 varieties —
egg, chicken, mutton, veg, paneer, cheese, liver, prawn and their
variations — and the prices range from a paltry thirty rupees to a
whopping two hundred and twenty. A total of three men man the shop.
Their hands move in perfect coordination as they dish out rolls by the
dozen, customising each one as they go: extra chilli in one, no chilli
in the other, fried onion in one, raw in another; sauces, spices, eggs,
onions — everything can be added, removed, reduced, or increased to suit
your palate.

If you are a regular, you won’t even have to tell
them — they remember it. I am neither a local, nor a regular, but the
shop remains my first stop in the city. I know the menu by heart and
also the chronology of actions. The parathas are fried on the
griddle till they are about half done, eggs are simultaneously beaten
and poured onto the centre of the griddle, the two are then combined and
fried again, until each paratha becomes thick, flaky, and
golden. Next, these are transferred to the counter where they are
assembled in batches: meat goes in first, then the onions, chillies,
spices, and sauces. Each roll is then wrapped in butter paper and handed
over to you.

“Do you know these rolls were invented when the
busy workers had no time to sit and eat their meal? Someone put his meat
into his roti, and voila, the roll was born. Isn’t that amazing?” A
woman tells another, even as the man on the counter assembles half a
dozen chicken rolls at once. It surely is amazing to see how far these
rolls have come.